Early Gospel Book

The Gospel book is an important way to spread the Christian culture. The early Gospel books were all artificially handwritten due to the limitations in printing technology. These early Gospel books not only contain the text of the Bible, but also the colorful hand-painted pictures to help people interpret it and visually communicate with the Christian spirit. These works are very delicate and valuable, and they are an important part of early Christian art. However, these artificial hand-painted Gospel books, usually include a painting of the portrait of the scribe. For example, Eadwine the Scribe, Eadwine Psalter in the book, and the Codex Amiatinus, which we had discussed in class. These two paintings were recorded in two productions and scribe …show more content…
The first thing that caught the viewer’s attention is the Scribe that wears a green robe. He was sitting on a chair, working on the Gospel in front of him with one hand holding a pen, and the other holding a knife. There was an arched framework surrounding the image of him making the Gospel book. The background color in the arch frame is blue, which is reminiscent of the sky and heaven. On the top left and right corners of the arch frame, there are two patterns of the early Christian Church. The arched window pattern on the church match with the arched pattern on the table and chairs used by the scribes. Outside the church and the arch frame, there is a rectangular frame consisting of words. It is then being surrounded by another bigger rectangle frame formed from yellow and green patterns. The four corners of the frame are respectively painted with four red decorative …show more content…
However, this picture was composed mostly of red and yellow, and some black. In this painting, the scribe was wearing a red robe and sitting on a simple, no-frills wooden chair. He is holding the book with one hand and the other hand copying the Gospel. He is stepping on a small chair, and there is a small table nearby. It is simple and plain, with no decoration, just like the chair he is sitting on. Near the small table, there is an open red-cover Gospel book on the ground. Similar to Eadwine the Scribe, Eadwine Psalter, the scribe has his head slightly turned to the viewer, which allows people to see that his eyes are looking attentively at the Gospels book he is working on. Beside him, there is a red cabinet wide open with little decorative pattern. The cabinet is divided into five levels. In each levels, there are several red-cover Gospels books. Outside all these images, there is a red and gray rectangular frame. Above the frame are two lines of text that described the picture. Codex Amiatinus the scribe is not the biggest image of the picture unlike Eadwine the Scribe. This means that the focus of the painting is not the scribe itself. The image that gets more attention is that red cabinet filled with Gospel books beside the scribe. These books may be the completed copy of the Gospel books, or it may be the Gospel books that he needs to work on. But in any case, this allows